Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PIPE DREAMS: 2, by WILLIAM A. PHELON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PIPE DREAMS: 2, by                    
First Line: Dreams are all right, wah kee, but nightmares
Last Line: Beating all records to this safe retreat.
Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares


DREAMS are all right, Wah Kee, but nightmares class
Way past my limit. Have you ever had
A color nightmare, when strange hues and shades
Fill all your view, and put you to the bad?
I had one just last night. Methought I walked
Along the Great White Way, when, with a flash
Of purple, mixed with dark cerise, Nat Wills
Came bounding up, and addled all the hash.
"Why such vast brilliancy?" cried I, but Nat
Never responded. Well, in fact, no chance
Was given him to speak, for Henry Lee
Stepped in the foregound. Blue and lilac pants
Featured our Henry, and his ears were framed
In gamboge bracelets. One strong violet hand
Waved o'er his head. The other fist contained
Booth Tarkington, who squawked to beat the band.
"Now this," I said, "is terrible." "Keep still,"
Said Tarkington, "just watch me twist, and see
That the chameleon, framed for changeful hues,
Hasn't one bit of anything on me."
Booth writhed an instant, and that fuzzy hat
Changed its complexion to an apple-green—
Another wriggle, and the playwright grew
To the full semblance of a well-browned bean.
Just then Fred Stone swam up. Yes, swam, for Fred
Had golden fins, secured with silver frogs,
While a large steering rudder framed his way—
A steering rudder, held by copper cogs.
"What's all this noise about?" asked Fred. "I'll bet
A burnt sienna goat, a three-horned bird,
Against two beers, that Otis Skinner can't
Play a stitched cocoanut in 'Richard Third."'
Then, with loud cries of mirth, they lit on Fred,
Painting him Vandyke brown, with steel-blue feet,
While I escaped, with wild and shivery screams,
Beating all records to this safe retreat.





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